


Stuck in the middle of nowhere

by asiramx



Category: American Dragon: Jake Long, Danny Phantom, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:22:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29791869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asiramx/pseuds/asiramx
Summary: “I’m going to kill that man.”“Get in line.” Danny chuckles. The wind outside blew against their shelter. If he was in bed right now. It would have been a pleasant thing to fall asleep to. Not in some frozen wasteland with little to no food out there.“I never thought... I’ll say... But I’m cold.” Jake wheezes. Danny gently grabs Jake, picking him up from the ground to move closer to Randy. Next, he settles the dragon down next to Randy and snuggles up close with the both of them.“Better?”“No.”
Kudos: 47





	Stuck in the middle of nowhere

"Fenton..." Randy rasped out. Danny scoots over to the Ninja to get a better look at him. Injured. Just like him. But worse for wear. His clothes shredded. Wounds and gashes cover his body. It kills Danny that he could not help. He had no healing power to reverse the pain Randy is enduring. 

"You should rest." Danny chided lightly.

"I can't sleep. Everything hurts." 

"Sleep."

"How's Jake?"

Danny shifts his gaze over to Jake. Sleeping with his coat over his upper body. The Dragon is injured like Randy and knocked out cold from one of the ghosts Vlad unleashed onto Amity Park. He kept crying out for his Grandfather which Danny hardly knew. 

"Resting. Like what you should be doing." 

"Norrisville."

"I know." Danny sighed, Vlad returned with a vengeance. This time. With an army. Danny wasn’t sure how or why. But he was blindsided. Partly because he was sick that day with a fever to boot. All Danny wanted to do was curl up in bed and let the warmth of the blankets lull him to sleep. That was no longer possible. 

He fought off the ghosts for days at a time. Vlad didn’t show up at first. Not until the rest of the trio were called in for backup. By then, it was a trap and--

“Gramps...”

Jake is up. He must tend to him next. He felt guilty for leaving Randy. The Ninja needed his help. Both of them do. Danny casts a sympathetic look towards the young teen, “Hey, I’ll be back, alright? You rest up. I mean it. Don’t make me come back here again.”

Randy lets out a sigh in defeat, closing his eyes for the time being. Danny walks a short distance towards the Dragon. Jake’s still struggling from the stab wounds he received from Vlad. The dagger Vlad used was laced with Sphinx's hair. 

“Where’s Gramps?”

“I’m sure he’s safe, Jake.” from what the dragon told him of his family. His grandfather seemed like a highly skilled and capable dragon. He’ll be fine--or that’s what Danny likes to tell himself.

“We have to..”Jake attempts to sit up. In an instant, Danny pushes him down gently, “Go back.”

“We can’t, Jake. Vlad sent us in the middle of nowhere.”

“I can... go dragon.”

“You cannot. Not until you’re better.” Danny warns, “Not until you’re _ both _ better.”

“I’m going to kill that man.”

“Get in line.” Danny chuckles. The wind outside blew against their shelter. If he was in bed right now. It would have been a pleasant thing to fall asleep to. Not in some frozen wasteland with little to no food out there. 

“I never thought... I’ll say... But I’m cold.” Jake wheezes. Danny gently grabs Jake, picking him up from the ground to move closer to Randy. Next, he settles the dragon down next to Randy and snuggles up close with the both of them. 

“Better?”

“No.”

There was no room to make a fire right now and if they stayed here for too long. They’ll freeze to death. It’s becoming more clear he may have to brave the wasteland to find ANYTHING they can use to live through the night.

“Damn you, Vlad.”

_ “Either you submit and become my heir or join your friends in exile.” _

_ “Never!” _

Danny clenched his eyes shut and threw his head back against the icy wall. Randy shuddered, nuzzling against his sides. Breathing in and out. He could hear faint sounds of wheezing. 

They have little time. 

Survival first. Then worry about Vlad. It sounded easier in his mind. But he knew, it wasn’t. For the next few days, Danny got up, left the two in the cave, and went out searching for any food source he could find. He didn’t know the first thing about hunting, only heard about it in history textbooks he never read. 

Danny found a fish frozen solid and let his friends have it. He’ll save whatever’s left for himself. Danny felt bad when Jake had to make a fire. It took a lot out of the dragon. It was necessary to keep all of them warm. 

Danny ate alone. Ripping the chunks of the fish with his bare hands, stuffing the fish in his mouth. He watched the fire ripple in front of him, listening to Randy sleep behind him. 

“Hey, man.” 

Danny turns his attention towards Jake. He looked tired and his hair messy. He settles himself down next to the ghost boy and sighs. 

“You should be--”

“Sleeping?” Jake groans, “I've been doing that for how many days?”

Danny looks behind him to see the tally marks on the wall, “Almost a week.”

“New York must be a dumpster fire while I’m not there.”

“Isn’t it always?” Danny jokes. Jake chuckles lightly at the jab. 

“What are we going to do?” Some of his powers were slowly returning. When he drew out fire from his mouth. It almost knocked the wind out of him. This kept telling Jake to keep pushing until he can ‘dragon’ up again. It makes his blood boil when Jake is helpless, as he is right now. Waiting for the day to pass by while Vlad is taking over the city.

“We have to wait for Randy to wake up.” Danny tosses a look over to the sleeping teen, “He took more hits than any of us.”

“How did I not see it?” Danny continues, “I always thought Vlad was some crazed up fruit loop. Even then I took him on with no problems and now he returns with an army and I could hardly land a hit. What happened?” 

“It’s not your fault, bro. We all tried. And we’re going to kick Vlad’s ass and send him running to the Ghost Zone. I’m sure G is giving Vlad a hard time as it is. If he is in New York.”

“I’m shoving him in the thermos.” Danny grunts, “And then? I don’t know. I’ll have to think of something.”

Danny felt Jake’s frustration. No longer hungry. He sets the fish aside, so Jake may eat it or Randy when he wakes up. His frustration was replaced with anger when Danny was forced to reveal his identity towards the world. It was easy, especially when Vlad had Randy as his hostage. 

He was prepared for the shocking audible gasps. His parents looked scared upon seeing him. Scared of what was going to happen to him or scared of him. He didn’t know. His sister looked like she was about to push through the crowd to save him, but Danny shook his head discreetly. Sam placed a reassuring hand on her back, while Tucker tried to look brave. 

_ “You’re all fools! How you did not see Danny Fenton and Phantom is beyond me! Danny Fenton! Son of Jack Fenton and Maddie Fenton! See? This is your fate if you want to play the hero.” _

He wondered how they were doing. 

“G might stall Vlad until I return.” Jake didn’t touch the food. His feet tapped on the ground restlessly, “I should be fighting alongside him.” 

“We need to help Randy first.” 

“You’re right.” Jake looks at Randy, “He took a hard hit and Vlad took his suit and the book. The Nomicon?”

“I think so. He’s been out of it since.”

“He can’t fight without the suit,” Jake said. His voice laced with worry. 

“It won’t be easy,” Danny says. Listening to Randy’s haggard breathing, “Especially in this climate.”

“Once I get better. I’ll dragon ‘up’ and get us out of here.”

“You can hardly breathe fire.”

“Then I’ll keep pushing.”

“Careful.”

\---

Randy woke up often as the days passed on. Jake turns his hands into claws and gnaws at the air for good measure. He still made pained noises when he did so. However, slowly more of his abilities are returning to him. 

“Now I gotta summon the tail.” Jake murmured, “It pisses me off that I have to do this at a slow pace.”

“I don’t want you passing out on me.” Danny smiles in approval, “We deal with that with Randy enough as it is.”

“I heard that,” Randy grumbled. Leaning against the Ghost boy for support.

“How are the wounds?”

“Healing.” Jake tosses him a puzzled look over to Danny. Danny returned the gesture over to Randy.

“What?”

“Slowly.” Randy brings the shirt up to reveal the gashes looking semi-healed. However, the other gashes looked bad, “The art of healing is taking a lot of me without the suit, I have others to deal with. It shouldn’t take long.”

“It still looks bad,” Jake commented. Randy huffs, rolling his eyes at the dragon in annoyance. Danny snorted, letting the boy down gently.

“Thanks, Dragon boy.” Randy retorts, “How’s the transformation going? You’re my ride out of here.”

“At this rate, Danny might carry us both out of here,” Jake replies. Carrying them both in normal circumstances wouldn’t be a problem. In this situation. With the addition of the snowstorm. It would be borderline impossible to carry them out of here.

“Yeah, not in this storm. I won’t.” Danny jests, “Have you seen how bad it is outside?”

“By the way. Do you know where we are?” Jake questions.

“I.... have a suspicion.” Danny peers out towards the cave’s exit. If his ‘suspicions’ were true. He would be in the Realm of the Far Frozen. It felt like it. It seemed like it. The place was cold enough. If you ventured outside without the right equipment. You’ll freeze to death. 

Well, if his assumptions are wrong or if Jake doesn’t transform soon. They might.

“A suspicion is better than nothing.” Jake points out, “Right, Ninja?”

“Anything is better than freezing like a popsicle. Tell us.” Randy dead-panned. His foot tapping anxiously on the ground in anticipation. 

“We could be---and I’m entirely sure yet, we may be in the Realm of the Far Frozen.”

“So.” Jake begins, “You've been here before?”

“It’s where I learned my ice powers.”

“Are you positive?” Randy asks, “What if this isn’t the Realm of Far Frozen?”

“We’ll freeze.”

_ “We’ll freeze _ , rather we go or not.” Jake says, “I’m done standing around.”

“I’ll go and--”

“No.” Jake protested, “I’m close to dragoning up!”

“Does it still hurt?” Danny says sharply. Jake averted his gaze, rubbing his shoulders in response. That proved to the ghost boy that it was a “yes.”

“We all can’t go out.” He gestures towards Randy. Without his suit. Randy is more or less human in his eyes. He did not have the suit to protect him from the harsh weather brewing outside the cave. 

“You can keep him warm until I return with Frostbite.”

“Frostbite?” Randy questioned.

“A white yeti who helped me.”

“Danny--” Jake, once again protested. Stepping forward to grab the ghost boy by his arm, “Are you sure you want to head out on your own?” 

“Keep Randy safe and warm for now. I’ll be back.”

Danny takes Jake’s hand off his arm. He dons a reassuring smile. Without hearing another protest. He takes off into the snowstorm. 

\----

_ “I’m disappointed, Daniel. You picked your friends you hardly know over your family! Your town!” _

Vlad’s voice sounded in his head; which, to Vlad’s credit, was the motivation Danny needed to move on. The freezing winds blast through his face. Maybe Jake was right. It wasn’t the best idea to go out searching in a storm like this. 

Still, the ghost boy continued on. He trudged on despite the snow piling up. 

Danny could not wait for the moment where he took down Vlad once and for all. First things first. He wanted to pummel him to the ground and knew his friends would want a go at it too. Especially Jake. He’ll even give Randy a turn or two. Danny laughs to himself. When this is all over, he will treat everyone to Nasty Burger. 

It’s the least he can do? Then there’s the subject of his parents. Damn it. Would they even accept him? Of course, they would, right....? They’re his parents. His mother and father are supposed to love him no matter what. Even if you're a half-ghost whose parents want to rip you in half molecule by molecule.

Okay, maybe this place doesn’t sound as bad. 

Sun dipped above the horizon. One good thing is the snowstorm stopped completely. Another is the northern lights up in the sky. Danny stared up in awe if he had the strength. He would fly up there in a heartbeat. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” 

Danny spun around in panic at the sound of his voice.

“You have a knack of visiting the Far Frozen without preparation, great one!”

“Frostbite?!” Danny exclaimed. Both excited and confused about how the white yeti-like creature found him so fast in this vast land. Wait, right. This was Frostbite’s domain. Of course, he knew the ins and outs of his own home. 

“Pfft, more like a frozen one!” The familiar slender dragon flew in next to Frostbite. On Frostbite’s hovercraft, Randy pokes his head out and waves. His body was covered with a blue blanket.

“How did you find them?” He asks Frostbite.

“Your furry friend here flew out to find you.” Frostbite gestures over to Jake, “At first, we attacked him. I’ve seen my share of ghost dragons.”

“He packed a punch,” Jake grumbles. Frostbite laughs at the fight the two had. Judging by their interactions. Danny can tell Frostbite won by a landslide. 

“I ain’t a ghost.” Jake says, “I had to keep telling him I was looking for you and that Randy was in the cave, freezing.”

“I told you not to go anywhere!” Danny says in frustration, “Why didn’t you listen?!”

“You were gone for hours!”

“Hours?!”

“Yes, time flies by quickly here.” Frostbite said, “When your friend told me about what happened. I implored him to find you while I took care of your other friend.”

“It took forever for me to transform. Do you know how painful that was?! Man, my body is on fire and not in a good way!”

“I-I’m sorry, guys. But, I’m f-freezing and I want to get out of here!”

Danny casts a sympathetic look towards Randy, “Sorry, bud.”

“It’s f-fine. As soon as we get the ninja suit. T-the better.”

“Rest, little one.” Frostbite said to the young ninja, “You will recover in no time.” The white yeti returned his gaze back on the ghost boy, “Your friends are right. You should retreat to my stronghold and rest. We’ll provide proper equipment to your young friend and we’ll send you off.”

They traveled back towards their stronghold, which is a cave. Instead of freezing in a desolate cave in the middle of nowhere. It was cold like, it was outside. Without complaint. Frostbite offered to turn the heater on to get the boys warmer. Frostbites guards brought the trio food; which all three devoured. Randy ate the most. And Jake barely touched his food. 

The trio is provided with beds for the night. None of them wanted to separate. Preferring to stay together as a group. Danny kept watch of both of his friends before exhaustion overtook him. 

He opened his eyes again to reveal Randy hovering over him with a wide grin on his face. Danny blinked, smiled, and pushed Randy’s head away playfully. 

“You snore. You know that?” Randy teased. 

“And you drool.” Danny rebuffed him. 

“Are you still in pain, Jake?” Randy slings his arms around the slightly sleepy dragon.

“Sore. But, I can manage it. “

“You think you can fly out of here?” Danny asked.

“Yeah, it’s no sweat.” Jake gives the duo a thumbs up, “I’m ready when you are, Fenton.”

“Good, you’re carrying Randy out of here.”

“Got it.”

“What about you?” Jake questions, “Weren’t you sick?”

“Still feel feverish.” Danny says, “And a runny nose. But, that's the least of my worries now. Get ready. We’re heading out.”

It took several hours for them to prepare. He dared not say it’s because of the Ninja. Without his suit, he was prone to the cold, unlike Jake or Danny. To combat this, Frostbite supplied Randy with a white coat, too big for him and a long spear too big for him to carry. Randy carried awkwardly in his hand. 

It’ll have to do. He couldn’t risk the Ninja freezing to death. 

“You look great!” Danny laughs, then a hoarse cough replaces his laughter. Both boys frown at him. 

“And you sound terrible.” Jake retorted. 

“A small cold.”

“That hasn’t gone away.” Randy chimed in.

“Are you sure you do not want to stay longer?” Frostbite made his appearance known. Danny shook his head, despite his sore throat. He must press on. Frostbite said nothing. But his face said it all. Riddled with concern for the ghost boy, he plants his hand on the boy’s shoulders. 

“No, I can’t. Vlad is out there causing havoc. We have to stop him.”

“You’re ill.”

“I can handle it.”

“Very well, I cannot force you to stay. Be careful.”

Jake and Randy exchange looks with another. When they exit outside the cavern. Randy shivered. He struggles to climb on top of Jake’s back. Once he does, he clings onto the dragon for dear life. 

“Don’t fall.” Jake jests, a grin spreading from ear to ear.

“Cut it out!” Randy groans, “ Being without a mask is embarrassing enough!

“Yeah, yeah. Get on. Yo, Fenton. You want a ride too?”

“I can fly, you know?”

“You’re down with the sniffles.”

“Oh, please.” Danny snorts taking off in the air. He waves at Frostbite below with a grateful smile spreading from ear to ear, “I promise not to come back here unprepared!”

Frostbite nods, “See you soon, great one! You and your friends are welcomed back any time!” Jake flew zooms past the ghost boy, with Randy screaming out of fear, clutching onto the dragon’s back. 

Danny sneezed. Wiping away his nose. He soared through the air after the duo. This time ready to take on Vlad. Itching for the day he can gets hands on Vlad and well---

_ Who knows. _

**Author's Note:**

> Might have gotten some characterizations wrong. Apologies! Also frostbite has a heater for plot conveniences, okay? Ok. also just in case Danny got into this situation again.


End file.
